


Ponyboy Has A Question

by Tortellini



Category: The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Best Friends, Brotherly Love, Brothers, Childhood Friends, Conversations, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Epic Friendship, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gen, Humor, Male Friendship, Puberty, Weird Fluff, Weird Plot Shit, Weirdness, Wordcount: 500-1.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:40:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25386955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tortellini/pseuds/Tortellini
Summary: Like it says on the tin--except not. Things are never, ever as they seem.Oneshot
Kudos: 18





	Ponyboy Has A Question

"Dal?" Fourteen-year-old Ponyboy Curtis tentatively approached the shadowy figure of a slouching boy smoking a cigarette. "C-Can I ask you something?"

"What?" the older boy looked at him coolly. 

"It's kind of...weird." He lowered his eyes and kicked his boots in the dusty ground, short scruffy grass.

Dally raised one pale eyebrow and smirked. "Just spit it out, kid."

Pony looked up earnestly at him. "...I think I'm going through puberty."

Oh god. The _p_ word, Dally thought in a panic.

"You--go talk to Darry." Dally looked away. "I can't answer somethin' like that." He took another drag on his cigarette. And that was the end of that conversation, it seemed.

* * *

"Darry?" Pony approached his oldest brother like he had Dallas only ten minutes ago. "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure, Pony, just wait...one second." Darry was finishing up one of the bills. He was the oldest out of the three of them, with Sodapop and Ponyboy. And he was definitely the most responsible. Surely he'd tell him all he needed to know. Darry looked up then, and pushed his bangs off of his forehead tiredly. "Now what was it you need? Math homework, sports, parent-teacher stuff--"

"I think I'm in puberty," Pony said simply. 

Just like Dally, the affect this had on Darry seemed instantaneous. He blanched; sweat ran down the side of his face. "I--"

"I asked Dally," Ponyboy continued. "But he said to come to you..."

Oh geez, the kid had asked Dallas Winston? About puberty? And he was still alive?!

Just then, Sodapop came down the stairs, jumping what seemed like three steps at a time. He looked at them quizzically. 

Darry immediately took advantage of his other brother's presence. "Ponyboy, Soda can handle this subject much better than I can. Go talk to him."

"Talk to me about what?" Soda said--in a very high, oddly cracking voice. "Whatcha guys doin'?" Then he giggled. Yeah, he giggled. No sixteen-year-old boy should be giggling, not like that.

"Dar, Soda's creeping me out..." Pony muttered. 

"I-I don't think Soda's gone through it yet." Darry said. That was the only explanation. "Why don't you go ask Steve? He's...mature. Kind of."

"Oh. Okay." Pony said, and walked out to the garage where Steve was working on one of his prized cars.

Darry just sighed and shook his head.

* * *

"Stevie?"

"Don't call me that, Ponyboy." Steve said coolly from beneath his car. He was working on the bottom of it. His torso had disappeared beneath the metal. 

"Can I ask you something?"

"You just did." Steve said gruffly.

"Can I ask you something else--?"

"JUST ASK IT ALREADY!" he growled then from under the car. 

"What do you know about puberty?" Pony asked a little nervously. 

Silence. And then--

"WHAT?!" Steve shrieked--he had Soda's same scary-high voice now--and seemed to magically appear from underneath the car then. 

"Argh! Why is your voice so high?!" Pony cried.

"Uh... Why are you talking about the _p_ word?"

Pony ran back to the house, terrified...and of course straight into Two-bit.

* * *

"Hey Ponyboy," Two-bit grinned, currently ransacking Pony's own fridge for beer and/or cake. That was what most of his meals seemed to be made up of. "You guys ain't got no more o' that chocolate ca--" Then he saw the look on his face. "What's wrong, kid? You okay?"

"Soda and Steve are scaring me." Pony said softly. 

"Aw, that's okay, Pony. It's their job." He took a sip of the beer he'd managed to find, and then he paused. "Why? What did you say?"

"He said--" Dally was suddenly there. He slouched in with Johnny in front of him. And he paused too, for dramatic affect, and made a big deal of covering Johnny's ears. " _\--puberty,_ and--"

Two-bit screamed like Soda and Steve had. He dropped his beer, and ran off, just like that.

Darry walked in, looking annoyed, and picked up the leaking bottle. "...and on the damn carpet too." He wandered off then, leaving just Dally, Ponyboy, and Johnny.

"Whoa." Dally smirked. 

"That was disturbing," Johnny murmured, wide-eyed. Dally patted his younger friend's skinny shoulder.

"Why--?" Pony started to say.

"Who knows, kid." Dally sighed, and shook his head like Darry would. He stuck his hands in his pockets and slouched again--classic greaser look. "Let's go--"

Suddenly there was the sound of low swearing and more high-pitched screaming. Johnny stepped closer to the other two, his hands trembling, as they all exchanged glances in response to the creepy noises. 

"It's okay, Johnny," Ponyboy said soothingly. Johnny nodded, a little embarrassed, and shuffled his feet.

"Okay, kiddies," Dally draped his arms around the younger boys' shoulders, and steered them outside. "I never thought I'd ever in my life say this, but who wants to go watch a sunset?"

* * *

* * *

"Hey," Pony said a few weeks later. He sat up from where he'd been relaxing on the grass with his buddies, just enjoying the beautiful auburn colors in the sky. 

"Lay back down, Pony," Dally mumbled, eyes closed. He sounded sleepy. He was sucking on a cigarette too, his long blonde hair messed up in the grass. "Some of us are enjoying the...things in the sky." When Johnny next to him cracked a small shy smile, Dally grinned in response. "Aw, you know what I mean--just cut me a break."

"But you guys--!"

"Dal's right, Pony," Johnny murmured. "Let's just enjoy this before we have to--" He faltered.

"--sleep in alleyways, or in cars. Go to homes where we're ignored or hit. Eat cold leftovers. Or nothing. And try to go to sleep cold, even if you're in your house, because the electricity was turned off when your pop forgot to pay the bill. Sleep to the sound of your parents screaming hell at each other."

Dally's voice rose. Pony stared--Dally never talked like that, or seemed to get emotional.

Johnny shuddered. Part of that was his life, and part of it was Dal's. Johnny's dark-complexioned face was now pale. "Yeah," he said simply in response to all of that.

Dally looked down at his friends, his breathing rough and angry. Finally, he laid back down, propping himself up on his elbows. 

"Ask whatever you want, Pony," he said finally, more quietly. He sounded tired and older than he really was, but the cold emotionless mask was back on as usual. "I can't relax anymore." He looked at Johnny, who now sat crosslegged on the grass next to him, picking at a dandelion head. "Thanks to Johnnycakes here."

Johnny looked up at the mention of his special nickname, the one Dally invented. "Sorry, Dal."

"S'okay." He turned his eyes to Pony.

"You never answered my question." Pony said, a little more subdued. It was different when they were all joking, but now... 

"Y' never asked 'Cake, Pony," Dally mumbled. 

"Ask me what?" Johnny said sharply. He sort of got defensive easily, and his guard was almost always up, because his own parents either ignored him, screamed at him until they were hoarse (especially his mother), or beat him senseless (his father). 

"Oh..." Pony felt weird asking his best friend. "Just about...puberty."

Johnny lowered his eyes. "I don't know anything you'd want to know, Ponyboy."

"Dally?" Pony inquired, looking hopefully at the rough blonde boy. 

Dally sighed and stretched. "Y'really wanna know, do ya, Pony?"

He nodded eagerly and Johnny, who looked up again from the dandelion he was beheading, stared at Dally too.

"It might creep you out," Dally warned. "And maybe Johnny shouldn't--"

"C'mon, Dal." Johnny rolled his eyes. 

"Kidding." Dally smirked. "And I'm warning you--escape while you can."

"No!" 

"Good." Dally grinned evilly. "Okay. Don't say I didn't warn you. When you reach a certain age, some...changes start to happen..."


End file.
